Elnora's Lisa Armstrong doesn't like the spotlight shining on her.
But the 23-year-old country girl is making a big name for herself in academic circles with Red Deer College officials, while at the same time earning respect and admiration from fellow students.
“She is going to be embarrassed. We know that her accomplishments can speak for themselves, not that we should speak of her accomplishments – but we are so proud of her,” said Wanda Strandquist, manager of the Elnora Public Library.
Armstrong, who was born and raised on a mixed farm a kilometre and a half south of Elnora, is a fourth-year University of Calgary student who is pursuing her studies at Red Deer College (RDC). Over the past two years Anderson – who scored an exemplary 4.0 grade point average last year as a five-class full-time student -- has received 12 academic awards.
Earlier this year, based on her first three outstanding years at RDC, she earned the Lois Hole Humanities and Social Sciences Scholarship, a $5,000 award that is only handed out to six students a year in universities across Alberta.
“That is probably what I am most proud of because it is not just on academics,” said Anderson, who is pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. “It is also on community involvement and student leadership. It is just great to be rewarded for the hard work and sacrifice that one does have to make when they choose to go to post-secondary and try to excel while there.”
At the Red Deer College Student Awards Ceremony on Nov. 25 she earned a $750 Alumni Legacy Scholarship that recognizes an individual alumnus' contribution to the community. She was also given an $850 Faculty Association of Red Deer College Award for university transfer programs.
Anderson also received two $1,000 scholarships, including one from the Red Deer College Board of Governors for academic merit and leadership in the community. And she was also given another $500 scholarship for exemplary citizenship within both Red Deer College and the community.
And that was not the end of her recent extraordinary run of accomplishments. Five days later on Nov. 30 she was notified that the University of Calgary had awarded her a $1,300 Norman E. Wagner Scholarship for academic excellence.
“I would like people to know that I am not smart. I am gritty,” said the always modest and humble young woman. “I am passionately pursuing my goals in learning and helping others and could not be doing so without the help I have received from the dedicated teachers I had at Elnora elementary and junior high school, Delburne Centralized School and Red Deer College.”
Anderson has proven that she excels not just because she studies hard but also because she is active outside the classroom. She is involved in many college research projects, some paid and others as a volunteer. Anderson also helps other students as an in-school mentor and is a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Red Deer. When she is not hard at work at the college this winter she is a figure skating coach at the Red Deer Skating Club. She previously coached at clubs in Lacombe, Three Hills and Torrington.
After Anderson earns her degree next year, her plan is to take a “gap” year to travel and get experience in the field based on her first four years of post-secondary studies.
“Hopefully I will go to a university in either Alberta or B.C.,” said Anderson. “The program at this point if I had to choose would be either a social psychology or health psychology, but I am not 100 per cent.
“My goal is to do philanthropy and activist work,” she added. “I just want to take people where they are at and build upon their strengths and also do philanthropy work with really struggling people like the homeless or dealing with extreme poverty, social issues.”
And it's reasonable to assume that whatever she chooses to specialize in Anderson will once again excel. The only other certainty is that she will be as modest and humble as ever while always proud to be a young woman from the country.
“I keep my small-town pride and carry that through my endeavours,” said Anderson.
